Michigan home goes on sale for $188

July 8, 2009 - FILE photo of a boy riding his bike past several abandoned houses in a former thriving working-class neighborhood that is now littered with blight in Flint, Michigan. A home in Flint recently went on the market for a mere $188.
(REUTERS)

Times are tough in Michigan, a point made clear when a home in Flint recently went on the market for a mere $188.

The house -- located at 2518 Dakota Ave., off Michigan’s Route 59 -- is 1,225 square feet, and sits on a lot measuring less than half an acre. Built in 1928, it has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, the Detroit Free Press reported this week.

It’s definitely a fixer-upper. A Realtor.com listing says the home burned down and is selling “as is.” The buyer would also have to assume all back taxes, and pay for title insurance and all closing costs.

Flint is one of several cities in Michigan struggling since the economic recession and the collapse of the car industry. In 1960, the city’s population peaked at 196,000 -- according to Census numbers reported by the Free Press -- and was home to 14,000 workers in several General Motors factories, making millions of auto parts a day.

But last year, the population had shrunk to less than 99,000, with a median household income just above $27,000 -- low compared to the national average of $51,000. The number of auto workers in Flint is now close to zero.

The house could be razed and used for a garden or other public space if the city of Flint can afford to buy it.